


above us only sky

by HestiaForever



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Captain America and crew are pardoned so they come back to New York, Friendship, Gen, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Spider-Bros, kind of, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 18:05:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15321210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HestiaForever/pseuds/HestiaForever
Summary: Black Widow goes to Queens to talk with the Spider Kid who was at the airport battle. The results are unexpected.





	above us only sky

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Imagine by John Lennon.
> 
> This is set in a slight AU where Captain America and his side are pardoned after Civil War. This fic was meant to be very different from the direction it actually took, so even though it's marked as complete, I might add in some of my original ideas and continue it if the inspiration hits.

Even though Captain America and the rest of his team are pardoned, there’s still considerable bad blood between the two factions of the Avengers. Clint and Scott go back to their families. Natasha, Steve, Wanda, and Sam return to New York, but they don’t make an attempt to reconcile with Tony, and Tony doesn’t try to contact them. It’s an arrangement that works for both sides-- it’s been a year since the events at the airport, but neither side is feeling particularly forgiving. 

Speaking of the events at the airport-- the spider kid. One of the first things Natasha does when she gets back to New York is look him up. A quick Google search yields a Youtube channel with videos of “Spider-Man”, who is apparently is some sort of neighborhood hero in Queens. There’s also a couple online forums speculating on his identity (mostly internet conspiracy theorists, nothing notable), a whole horde of news articles, a Wikipedia article. A hack into SHIELD doesn’t reveal much more than the Google search did, so Natasha reads up on the spider kid’s usual hours of operation and heads over to Queens one afternoon. 

It doesn’t take much to find him-- the kid isn’t exactly subtle, what with the bright red and blue suit, and she’s watching him help an elderly man cross the street a couple well-placed inquiries later. He’s just lifted a hand to shoot a web and swing away when he sees Natasha, casually leaning against the wall a couple feet away. The spider kid has his mask on, obviously, but the eye holes are disturbingly expressive. The look on his face at the moment? Pure shock. (With a bit of terror thrown in, Natasha notes, satisfied). 

He fires a web upwards, but Natasha shoots it. “Relax, kid. I just want to talk.”

They’re drawing curious looks from passerby, so Natasha starts walking towards a fairly empty coffee shop she’d noticed earlier and hopes the kid is smart enough to follow her. A quick glance back proves that he is, and when she slides into a booth at the coffee shop, he follows suit with just a couple seconds of hesitation.

Natasha orders a black tea with honey from a speechless waitress, steeples her fingers, and levels an unreadable look over the table at the kid, who now looks downright terrified.

The floodgates open almost immediately. “Miss-- Agent Black Widow-- Romanoff-- I’m so sorry, really-- about the whole airport thing I wasn’t trying to-- to-- Captain America is great! And you too, I really admire you, it’s so cool that you’re here-- It’s just that Mr. Stark--” He breaks for air, embarrassed.

Natasha, uncharacteristically fond, cuts in. “Spider-Man, huh? How old are you, kid?”

“I-- I shouldn’t tell you that, probably,” he stammers. “I mean-- Mr. Stark--”

“You work with Stark?”

“I mean-- sort of? He helps me sometimes. He built the suit.”

Natasha considers this for a moment, feeling conflicted. Spider kid certainly seems to be acting of his own volition, but Stark helping him? The kid barely seems old enough to drive.

“Your parents know about this?”

He looks down, speaking quietly for once. “They’re dead.”

Natasha feels her heart going out to this kid she barely knows. It’s an unfamiliar feeling, and she takes a sip of her tea as she comes to terms with it, very nearly spitting the bitter stuff out. Well. Probably why the place is empty.

She nods, face still unreadable. “Guardian, then? Do you have one of those?”

“Yeah. My aunt. She…” He trails off. “She doesn’t like it, but she understands.”

Natasha thinks she knows what he’s talking about, but she asks anyway. “Understands?”

“That-- that I have to do something. To help people.” Spider Kid pauses. “To be able to do the things I can do-- I can’t just sit back and do nothing.” He sounds almost defensive now, and Natasha wonders how many people he’s had some variant of this conversation with.

Natasha scrutinizes him for a long time before putting a couple bills on the table, leaving her tea unfinished, and standing up to leave. “Okay.”

As she leaves the coffee shop, Natasha feels distinctly ruffled. She tracked Spider-Man down to gauge if he was a threat, and found something that’s been missing from her life for a long time. Wide-eyed innocence, unconditional kindness, a need to serve the human race.

It makes her wonder, as she walks to the subway station and boards the A train heading to Greenwich Village, why she does this. The whole hero thing. She started working for SHIELD to try and make up for all the crimes she’s committed in the past, all the innocents she’s killed, all the lives she’s ruined. It blew up somewhere along the line, and now she’s an Avenger, however shattered the Avengers might be. A “hero”.

Natasha would be lying if she said she was completely comfortable with the term.

Captain America is a hero. Patriotic, confident, larger-than-life. 

Spider Kid is a hero. Idealistic, kind, making the world better person by person.

Her? Natalia Alianovna Romanova, Natalie Rushman, Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow? Red room trained spy, former assassin for hire, SHIELD agent?

Who is she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Should I continue this?
> 
> Find me on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hestiaforever

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? Should I continue this?


End file.
